Saudi teams AQ, The Storm reach Red Bull Neymar Jr’s Five Super Final

RIYADH: Red Bull Neymar Jr’s Five, a global five-a-side tournament held for the first time in Saudi Arabia, ended this week in Jeddah with Team AQ winning the national men’s competition and The Storm claiming the women’s title.

The winners emerged from eight teams from the Kingdom to earn the right to represent the country in the Super Final to be staged in Qatar in May.

The national finals took place in Al-Balad, the historical area of the Red Sea port city.

The men’s competition was launched in Saudi Arabia with two qualifiers in Riyadh on April 7 and 8 and was followed by two qualifiers in Jeddah on April 14 and 15, while the women’s qualifiers took place on April 16, giving an opportunity for thousands of participants to compete in the elite football event.

There are no goalkeepers in the competition, and every time a team scores, an opposing player is eliminated. Matches last for 10 minutes, or until one team loses all its players. This year saw all the teams that had qualified for the cancelled 2021 event being invited back to compete.

The Red Bull Neymar Jr’s Five tournament touched down in the Kingdom for the first time this year and set the scene for Saudi football fans and enthusiasts of the most popular international game to showcase their skills and compete in a tournament that thousands of football fans around the world wait for every year.

Red Bull Neymar Jr’s Five is the Brazilian football star’s signature five-a-side tournament, with countries around the globe hosting qualifiers with teams aiming to make the national finals to book a ticket to the coveted World Final.